• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Luca Williams-Barnett

afsoc4life said:
Giving youngsters some debut minutes does not equal pathway. We always give some youth players minutes every season. What is worrying is that we have not had a youth product be part of the main squad for a fair bit. Glenn Hoddle even brought it up. The last person from our academy that we could argue was part of the first team consistently is Harry Winks which IIRC is almost 10 years ago. I remember Oliver Skipp as well.
Click to expand...
Well they aren't going to be given a pathway if they aren't given their debut :D

Of those youngsters in recent years who have been given a debut there is hardly anyone who has done anything of note whether it be here or elsewhere (yes, maybe Lankshear will). The fact is that the club will give the best possible platform if the young players we have are good enough, and in recent years we have hardly had anyone of the desired quality.

Mikey Moore has been given a clear pathway with good loans at European clubs that will stand him in good stead for a potential PL career, whether he ends up good enough or not is still up for debate. RDZ has recognised LWBs talent and name checked him as someone we have to find a way to include in the first team squad, and appears to do it sensibly.

Just because the club sees it differently to the fans regarding who is good enough for PL football (of which fans clearly overegg a lot of young talented players) doesn't mean the club aren't looking to provide a pathway to the first team for young players. The issue is more the academy players haven't been good enough to make the jump (something which seems to have been addressed with the latest crop of talent).....
 
harr1984 said:
Well they aren't going to be given a pathway if they aren't given their debut :D

Of those youngsters in recent years who have been given a debut there is hardly anyone who has done anything of note whether it be here or elsewhere (yes, maybe Lankshear will). The fact is that the club will give the best possible platform if the young players we have are good enough, and in recent years we have hardly had anyone of the desired quality.

Mikey Moore has been given a clear pathway with good loans at European clubs that will stand him in good stead for a potential PL career, whether he ends up good enough or not is still up for debate. RDZ has recognised LWBs talent and name checked him as someone we have to find a way to include in the first team squad, and appears to do it sensibly.

Just because the club sees it differently to the fans regarding who is good enough for PL football (of which fans clearly overegg a lot of young talented players) doesn't mean the club aren't looking to provide a pathway to the first team for young players. The issue is more the academy players haven't been good enough to make the jump (something which seems to have been addressed with the latest crop of talent).....
Click to expand...

The counter argument of course is that we've had a fair few senior players who definitely have not been up to the standard but got playing time.

I often wonder what the difference is.

It's also on the player themselves. You do occassionally get a Brandon Austin who will accept a squad place and doesn't need to be a first choice in his position. These guys are really rare though. Most are like Lanks and want that first team shirt early.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back